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Targets (Peter Bogdanovich, 1968) +
Bogdanovich's deeply allegorical debut feature might just be one of the best under-mentioned horror thrillers of all time. Whilst the director is best known for period rites of passage classics like The Last Picture Show (the film he made next), and Paper Moon; I find it odd that Targets doesn't garner more of a mention from fans of cult horror cinema - especially considering the perfect casting of Boris Karloff in his final screen appearance...
Aging horror film star Baron Orlok (Karloff more-or-less playing himself) feels he's an anachronism in the face of modern society, and subsequently announces his retirement from the business. Orlok's dismayed director best friend Sammy Michaels (Bogdanovich) swears he has the perfect script for him, but the Baron insists his last public appearance will be made the following evening at a drive-in theatre. Meanwhile Bobby (Tim O'Kelly) is a detached, gun obsessed young man who embarks on a killing spree that sets him on an unintentional collision course with Orlok...
For a lean scripted low budget debut feature Targets has uncommon narrative depth. Perhaps most fascinating is Orlok's notion that his old school, melodramatic brand of gothic terror, no longer has relevance when considering the contemporary horrors of sixties America. This he demonstrates with a murder story splashed across the front page of a newspaper, and the notion that nobody finds him scary when people kill without reason. It also carries extra weight considering the country was already in the midst of the Vietnam war. Karloff's performance is a wonderfully nuanced mixture of weary knowing humor, and sombre yet fond reminiscence of glory days gone by. This is intercut with the actions of cold calculating Bobby (who may or may not be a Vietnam veteran - an eerily prophetic character considering the Zodiac Killer would rear his head later that year). A man who calmly kills most of his family before casually taking pot shots at motorists on a highway, in a chillingly realistic sequence (pictured). If Tim O'Kelly gives a relatively insular, monotone performance; then the contrast between his very real monster, and the humanist depiction of Orlok - the introspective fictional boogeyman - is a masterstroke.
The climactic final reel of Targets is perhaps the most symbolic and memorable of the film. With nowhere left to hide Bobby resorts to shooting at drive-in patrons from behind the screen itself. The image of his rifle barrel aiming through a tiny hole whilst Roger Corman's The Terror blazes across the screen is unforgettable. A literal metaphor of film effecting the audience, as Bogdanovich may well have been asking the age old question as to whether art imitates life, or visa versa. The knowledge that drive-in horror cinema of the seventies would take a more cynically bleak and violent outlook only makes the themes and imagery of Targets all the more poignant. The fact that Targets is incredibly suspenseful and moving, as well as being a dream swan song for Karloff; elevates it to greatness.
Targets (Peter Bogdanovich, 1968) +
Bogdanovich's deeply allegorical debut feature might just be one of the best under-mentioned horror thrillers of all time. Whilst the director is best known for period rites of passage classics like The Last Picture Show (the film he made next), and Paper Moon; I find it odd that Targets doesn't garner more of a mention from fans of cult horror cinema - especially considering the perfect casting of Boris Karloff in his final screen appearance...
Aging horror film star Baron Orlok (Karloff more-or-less playing himself) feels he's an anachronism in the face of modern society, and subsequently announces his retirement from the business. Orlok's dismayed director best friend Sammy Michaels (Bogdanovich) swears he has the perfect script for him, but the Baron insists his last public appearance will be made the following evening at a drive-in theatre. Meanwhile Bobby (Tim O'Kelly) is a detached, gun obsessed young man who embarks on a killing spree that sets him on an unintentional collision course with Orlok...
For a lean scripted low budget debut feature Targets has uncommon narrative depth. Perhaps most fascinating is Orlok's notion that his old school, melodramatic brand of gothic terror, no longer has relevance when considering the contemporary horrors of sixties America. This he demonstrates with a murder story splashed across the front page of a newspaper, and the notion that nobody finds him scary when people kill without reason. It also carries extra weight considering the country was already in the midst of the Vietnam war. Karloff's performance is a wonderfully nuanced mixture of weary knowing humor, and sombre yet fond reminiscence of glory days gone by. This is intercut with the actions of cold calculating Bobby (who may or may not be a Vietnam veteran - an eerily prophetic character considering the Zodiac Killer would rear his head later that year). A man who calmly kills most of his family before casually taking pot shots at motorists on a highway, in a chillingly realistic sequence (pictured). If Tim O'Kelly gives a relatively insular, monotone performance; then the contrast between his very real monster, and the humanist depiction of Orlok - the introspective fictional boogeyman - is a masterstroke.
The climactic final reel of Targets is perhaps the most symbolic and memorable of the film. With nowhere left to hide Bobby resorts to shooting at drive-in patrons from behind the screen itself. The image of his rifle barrel aiming through a tiny hole whilst Roger Corman's The Terror blazes across the screen is unforgettable. A literal metaphor of film effecting the audience, as Bogdanovich may well have been asking the age old question as to whether art imitates life, or visa versa. The knowledge that drive-in horror cinema of the seventies would take a more cynically bleak and violent outlook only makes the themes and imagery of Targets all the more poignant. The fact that Targets is incredibly suspenseful and moving, as well as being a dream swan song for Karloff; elevates it to greatness.